The two gay Essex men who have become the fathers of twins with the help of a surrogate mother, say they will quit the country if it is the only way they can keep their new family together.

They are anticipating a complicated return to their home in Danbury, near Chelmsford, from California, where the twins were born.

Tony Barlow, 35, and his partner Barrie Drewitt, 32, hope to have their children - a boy named Aspen and a girl named Saffron - back home by Christmas.

The men, who had been up all night with the babies, said that they have hired two nannies and are willing to take drastic measures to keep their new family together.

Mr Drewitt said: "If the worst comes to worst, we'll leave the UK. It is certainly something we don't want to do, but something we're willing to do."

Mr Barlow added: "If my own country can't accept me, Barrie and my family, then I'd leave it today."

He "went into fits of tears" last Thursday when his son was born to Rosalind Bellamy, who carried the embryos created from the eggs of another American and the sperm of one of the gay couple.

The children are considered American, even though one of the men is the biological father and a San Diego court in October ruled that both could be listed as "intended parents" on the birth certificates.

The designation has the practical effect of granting the couple full paternity.

Mr Drewitt and Mr Barlow, both self-made millionaires, said they plan to appeal to the British consulate in San Francisco next week for a waiver that will allow the children to stay in Britain longer than an American passport would otherwise permit.

They then will ask the British Government to accept their children as British citizens. Final approval must come from Home Secretary Jack Straw, the men said.

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